Late round work

[diamond_ace 3,106]

So entering the S71 draft, the Prague Phantoms had 3 picks: 5th overall (our own first, used to select Thomas Landry II), and 41st and 44th. Let's get the obvious out of the way: Landry has been a great pick and everything you'd expect of a 5th overall, but this article is about the late rounds, so it's not really about him. 

The following season, entering the S72 draft, we only had a single pick: 42nd overall. Admittedly, we had a 3rd this draft entering the last draft, and that 3rd will play a part here, but we'll get to that in a bit.

 

First, we'll get into that 44th pick. It might seem strange to discuss 44 before 41, but the resulting thing that occurred from the 44th pick happened before the 41st pick. The 44th pick, along with the S72 3rd that I said we'd get to, were sent to Davos for the 35th pick. The 35th pick was then used to select Woody McPine, who is currently 21st among S71 draftees a season later. The 44th pick ended up being Linea Alba for Davos, and the Davos S72 3rd that was sent back to them in the deal went to Moscow and was used on Keith Krestanovich. Alba has been inactive at 84 TPE for almost 2 months now, so the trade is basically which of McPine or Krestanovich ends up with the better career - the trade itself is still very much in the wait and see stages, but the selection of McPine at 35 was a fantastic value and arguably the steal of the draft.

 

Moving 6 spots later to 41, a pick that Prague held to begin with and retained, the selection at that spot was Jack John. Similarly to McPine, John has massively outperformed his draft spot, as he is currently 34th among S71 draftees. Technically, this means that John has also outperformed McPine's draft spot (although not McPine himself). So the Phantoms had two later picks and combined, the two players are 21 places better than they were drafted (at the moment anyway - McPine is 1 TPE ahead of Adam Syreck and Squirrely dan, so who knows how that ends up, although in the long run I'd bank on both guys climbing even more up the ranks). 

 

It's all well and good that Prague got all these late steals in S71, but could we do it again in S72, especially after having traded away the 3rd, and coming into the draft with nothing but a 4th? To answer the question: yes, yes we could.

 

Watching the draft unfold while it was going on, I noticed a particularly unusual occurrence: Riley Knight Gee, predicted to go in the 2nd in two mocks the day before the draft, was not only still around at the end of the 2nd, but continued to be around well into the 3rd. With talk in the GM chat of picks being up for grabs for those who might be interested, it seemed like as good a time as any to get a deal going. After leaving a message in the Calgary discord for Jubis which went unanswered (and to be fair, Jubis might not have had permission to conduct trades anyway) I messaged Bana to acquire 32 for a future 3rd (S74). In doing so, Gee was brought on board, and I'm about as confident in him at this stage as McPine last season, so we'll see how that turns out.

 

The 42nd pick, the only pick we had at the start of the draft, was used to select Ernie King. At this stage there wasn't a ton left, but King and the pick after him (Pietro Angellini) seemed to be the best remaining options, especially as I wanted to bring in a forward since Gee is defense. King went missing for a few weeks, but has also had a few weeks where he did a little bit more, whereas Angellini was more consistent and spread out - in the early rounds, I'd rather the consistency, but later on, King represented a bit more boom or bust potential. If he booms - and he absolutely could - this will make for a strong selection, especially at this stage. Most likely, King won't reach the level of the other three, but still - this is how you go into 2 consecutive drafts with three 4th round picks and come out of it with a rejuvenated prospect pool. 

Edited May 17, 2020 by diamond_ace

[diamond_ace 3,106]

Also, if you guys want to come in and read a bit of positivity about yourselves, and how you're part of the future of the franchise:

@GoadenGoalie35 @HearnNation67 @KnightRiley @Greg Ernest

[GoadenGoalie35 20]

@diamond_acethank you so much! Going to claim every TPE possible

[diamond_ace 3,106]

1 minute ago, GoadenGoalie35 said:

@diamond_acethank you so much! Going to claim every TPE possible

You've been killing it down there in the M, and we'll be glad to have you on board when you get to the 250 - I'm guessing S73 probably. A steal is only a steal if the player keeps putting in the work, and you definitely have

[Doomsday 4,053]

Can't wait to have you guys join the #Phamily soon! 

[Banackock 7,727]

Hi DA. 

[Esso2264 772]

wait but you picked at 46 and traded 42 to me lmao